Voice mail processing

A voicemail notification method carried out by a telephony network and comprising the steps of:

• a voicemail system receiving and storing a voicemail sent by a depositor and addressed to a recipient device,
• the voicemail system sending to the recipient device a notification message including an access number the recipient device transmitting a message in reply to the notification, and
• the voicemail system receiving the reply message from the recipient device and using it to access the specific voicemail without further recipient input and performing an action on the voicemail such as marking it as un-heard, deleting it, storing it, or forwarding it, and
• in which the reply message includes a command keyword, recognition of which by the voicemail system triggers the action.

A voicemail system comprising a network interface and a processor, wherein the processor is adapted to perform the steps of:

• receiving and storing a voicemail sent by a depositor and addressed to a recipient device,
• sending to the recipient device a notification message including an access number;
• receiving from the recipient device a request for access to the message in the form of a call dialling the access number, and
• receiving the dialled access number from the recipient device and using it to access the specific voicemail without further recipient input, and playing the voicemail back to the recipient device,
• wherein the voicemail system is adapted to combine the access number with a subscriber code to uniquely address the specific stored voicemail, and so is adapted to use the same access number for a plurality of different recipients while providing unique access to each voicemail, and
• wherein the subscriber code is a calling line identification of the recipient

A voicemail system comprising a network interface and a processor, wherein the processor is adapted to perform the steps of:

• receiving and storing a voicemail sent by a depositor and addressed to a recipient device,
• sending to the recipient device a notification message including an access number
• receiving from the recipient device a message in reply to the notification, and
• receiving the reply message from the recipient device and using it to access the specific voicemail without further recipient input and performing an action on the voicemail such as marking it as un-heard, deleting it, storing it, or forwarding it,
• in which the voicemail system is adapted to recognise a command keyword in the reply message to determine the action to be performed, and
• wherein the voicemail system is adapted to evaluate the originator address, the recipient address, and the command keyword used in the reply message, and to subsequently execute the requested command on the voicemail.

A computer program product comprising a computer readable medium having a computer readable program code therein, said computer readable program code adapted to be executed to implement the steps of:

• receiving and storing a voicemail sent by a depositor and addressed to a recipient device,
• sending to the recipient device a notification message including an access number;
• receiving from the recipient device a request for access to the message in the form of a call dialling the access number, and
• receiving the dialled access number from the recipient device and using it to access the specific voicemail without further recipient input, and playing the voicemail back to the recipient device,
• combining the access number with a subscriber code to uniquely address the specific stored voicemail, and so can use the same access number for a plurality of different recipients while providing unique access to each voicemail,
• wherein the subscriber code is a calling line identification of the recipient,
• maintaining in one or more tables correlations between access numbers on one side, and internal message indexes on the other side.

A computer program product comprising a computer readable medium having a computer readable program code therein, said computer readable program code adapted to be executed to implement the steps of:

• receiving and storing a voicemail sent by a depositor and addressed to a recipient device,
• sending to the recipient device a notification message including an access number
• receiving from the recipient device a message in reply to the notification, and
• receiving the reply message from the recipient device and using it to access the specific voicemail without further recipient input and performing an action on the voicemail such as marking it as un-heard, deleting it, storing it, or forwarding it, and
• in which the reply message includes a command keyword, recognition of which by the voicemail system triggers the action.